Page:Ralph on the Railroad.djvu/768

200 They kept on until quite late in the afternoon, but made no discoveries. They passed a little settlement and went some distance beyond it. Then Ralph decided to return to the railroad camp.

"All right," said Zeph, "only I quit work to-morrow."

"What for?"

"To find that car. I say, I'm thirsty. Let us get a drink of water at that old farm house yonder."

They went to the place in question and were drinking from the well bucket when the apparent owner of the place approached them.

"Won't you have a cup or a glass, my lads?" he inquired kindly.

"Oh, no, this is all right," said Ralph.

"On a tramp, are you?" continued the farmer, evidently glad to have some one to talk to.

"In a way, yes," answered Ralph, and then, a sudden idea striking him, he added: "By the way, you are an old resident here, I suppose?"

"Forty years or more."

"Do you happen to remember anything of a wreck at the bridge at Wilmer about five years ago?"

"Let me see," mused the man. "That was the time of the big freshet. Yes, I do remember it